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Meet Martin McCourt, CEO, Dyson Ltd

Against The Odds

Monday 29 November 2010, 18:00 - 20:30

Martin McCourt’s address entitled: "Against The Odds" will
underline the important role that science and technology should
perform in creating sustainable GDP growth for our economy. He will
discuss the role of ideas, risk-taking and the style of thinking
that is needed if an entrepreneurial venture is to thrive.

In addition to hearing from an inspirational leader, this is also a
fantastic opportunity to network with local/regional businesses and
share ideas.

Biography

Dyson is about making things work better. And
since joining the company in 1996, Martin McCourt has been doing
just that.

Under his leadership, Dyson has grown from a
£50 million UK vacuum cleaner business to a £770 million global
technology company (2009) that exports its machines to 50 countries
and employs 2,500 employees worldwide, many of whom are scientists
and engineers.

Since becoming the CEO in 2001, Martin’s
hands-on approach and guidance has led to Dyson becoming the market
leader in the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France,
Belgium, Ireland, Spain and Switzerland.

In 2001, Martin oversaw the movement of
development and production of vacuums to Malaysia, allowing Dyson
to focus on the research and development of new
technologies. And so in 2002, with ten million vacuum
cleaners sold worldwide, he successfully led efforts to sell Dyson
machines in America. This was followed by the development of
the efficient Dyson digital motor in 2004 and Dyson’s movement into
the commercial sector in 2006 with the launch of the Dyson
Airblade™ hand dryer. And, most recently, the introduction of
Dyson’s smallest ever vacuum cleaner, the Dyson City™ vacuum
cleaner and the bladeless Dyson Air Multiplier™ fan. To date, Dyson
has sold 35.5 million vacuum cleaners.

Earlier in his career, he was General Manager
for the Audio Visual division with Toshiba, UK National Sales
Manager for Duracell and held sales and business development roles
with Mars, Inc. Martin served four years as Managing Director for
Marcus Bohn Associates Ltd, where he returned the sales and
marketing and business consultancy to a profit.

Before joining Dyson, Martin spent two years
as the International Director and UK General Manager for Pelikan
GmbH.